Everyone experiences physical pain in one form or another during his or her life. Pain and inflammation accompany most illnesses and physical injury. Pain may be acute or dull, intermittent, or chronic. Because of the great undesirability of pain many remedies and treatments have been sought throughout history. Further, ongoing research continues to seek analgesic and anti-inflammatory compounds that provide maximum potency with minimal adverse side effects, such as chemical dependency.
Of the various types of pain, chronic pain caused by degenerative or inflammatory diseases is considered to be especially intolerable because of its constant presence. Many diseases, such as cancer and arthritis, may cause chronic pain and inflammation, which is so debilitating that it virtually incapacitates the afflicted individual. Therefore, research efforts in the pharmaceutical and medical sciences continually seek formulations of analgesic and anti-inflammatory compounds, which are capable of long lasting high potency. The duration of potent activity is especially important when treating chronic pain in order to minimize administration frequency. By reducing administration frequency, intermittent pain, which occurs as one dosage wears off, and before another is administered, is greatly reduced.
Many analgesics such as codeine, tramadol, and dextropropoxyphene have been used to manage mild to moderate pain. Additionally, for more severe pain, opioids such as morphine, methadone, oxycodone, buprenorphine, hydromorphone, fentanyl, and heroin have been used. Unfortunately, heavy use of opioids, or other narcotics often leads to chemical dependence, or addiction.
Chemical dependence is often extremely difficult and painful to overcome. One common treatment involves administering opioids and opioid analgesics in decreasing doses over an extended duration. For example, methadone is known for treating heroin addiction by being administered in gradually decreasing amounts. While such regimens do tend to alleviate many of the withdrawal symptoms associated with detoxification, they take months to complete and are therefore only marginally successful in helping the addict take a permanent step away from chemical dependence.